


Chocolate Soft-Serve

by dumbhuman



Series: One Scoop or Two [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 11:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dumbhuman/pseuds/dumbhuman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine Anderson is working at his aunt’s ice cream parlor for the summer. It’s fun, but not especially exciting - until the day Kurt Hummel comes in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chocolate Soft-Serve

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr in July 2013

Blaine first saw him on the first busy day of the season. A week of rain had finally been eclipsed by a clear, hot day. Maybe a little too hot for the end of June, but heat meant business. The small ice cream parlor that Blaine worked at during the summer thrived on overheated tourists, and there were definitely plenty to spare that day. He was getting through the lengthy queue of customers as quickly as he could, rapidly rattling off his repetitive lines of “What can I get you?” “Hard or soft?” “Cup or cone?” “Small or large?” Buying ice cream on a summer day was not for the indecisive. Blaine, Tina, and Sugar wove around each other with a synchronization that only came with years of practice, cones held high above each other’s heads as they traveled from freezer to toppings to customer to cash register.

Blaine didn’t notice him until he was at the front of the line, flanked by a petite brunette and another boy who had Blaine craning his neck when he asked “What can I get you?” Not the most sincere approach, but they were _busy_.

“Do you have anything vegan?” The girl looked at him expectantly from beneath her outrageously large sunhat. Blaine briefly wondered if she was blocking other customers’ view of their selection. The non-giant – _the really_ attractive _non-giant_ – rolled his eyes at his friend’s question, opening his mouth to say something before Blaine cut him off.

“Actually, our water ice is vegan, if you’ll follow me down to this end.” He avoided Sugar, hands full with four waffle cones of vanilla soft-serve, and noted that, by moving his group down to the water ice end, he opened up a spot for Tina’s next group to file in. Good. This place was way too small when it got this busy.

“Alright, so our list of flavors is right here. Just let me know when you’re ready.” Blaine bounced on his toes a bit, glancing toward the door and the line going out of it. He knew that buying something meant decisions, and decisions took time, but he got impatient when it got busy. He just…tried not to let it show.

“God Rachel, stop holding up the line. You’re going to get mango, because it’s your favorite and you always get mango. It’ll be small, because we just ate lunch and you were already complaining about how you wanted something sweet but it had to be small because you were so full.” Apparently the now-kind-of-huffy-but-still-adorable stranger had no qualms letting his own impatience out. And though his eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise, Blaine loved him for it. He looked at Blaine pointedly when he finished his rant, glancing back at the girl, Rachel, with an expression that said _don’t pretend I’m wrong_ on his face, which prompted her to nod quickly, mumbling “What he said. Small mango, please.”

Blaine glanced back at the people in the store as he grabbed a small plastic cup, relieved to notice that no one was reacting to the guy’s outburst, everyone too involved in their own orders to take much notice of other customers. _At least it’s over,_ he thought as he struggled a bit to scoop the creamy mango ice. He never got the “Oh, you’re going to be so strong at the end of the summer!” that the girls heard 20 times a day, but Tina and Sugar never hesitated to point out when some of the younger teenage girls would giggle and stare at his biceps as he scooped. It made him self-conscious at first, but he was used to it by then. He’d only put the first scoop in when the guy pivoted on his heel to face the giant.

“I didn’t forget about you, Finn Hudson.” _Okay, I guess he’s not done._ Blaine couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s intensity, hiding his face in his sleeve to avoid getting caught. He didn’t want to be on the other end of that wrath. “You’ll actually eat anything. I may have only lived with you for two years now, but believe me, I know that you don’t actually have taste buds. I mean, some of the foods that you eat? You can’t. So just close your eyes and point to something and get a large. And no toppings, that’ll only take longer. You have all summer to eat these poor people out of all of their food, okay? It’s on me anyway, and we really shouldn’t waste any more of this nice man’s time.” He reminded Blaine of the exasperated parents he so often waited on, but scarier. The tall guy evidently found him frightening as well, considering that when Blaine straightened up to give Rachel her ice, he had his eyes closed and was pointing to mint chocolate chip.

“So, the mint then? Large?” He didn’t want to seem like he had been eavesdropping, but the embarrassed half-smile the guy – Finn – gave him made him feel less intrusive.

“Yeah, that works for me, dude. Waffle cone, please.” Thankfully the center case wasn’t occupied - Tina was making a smoothie while Sugar refilled the soft-serve machine - so Blaine quickly put three scoops into the large pointy cone and handed it across the counter.

“Can I get you anything else?”

“Alright guys, go wait outside so it isn’t quite as crowded in here, okay? I’ll grab napkins.” He turned back to Blaine as his friends rushed out the side door. Their eyes locked for a second and Blaine noticed that his were a really pretty grey color when the pale boy blinked and shook his head. “Sorry, um, I’ll have a chocolate soft-serve in a small cake cone?”

Blaine chuckled as he turned to get the cone, silently patting himself on the back for not screwing it up. Soft-serve could be a bitch. “You know, you made my day go just a bit more smoothly – ah, that’ll be $14.75, thanks.” He reached for the money, shivering a bit as their hands brushed even in the heat. And the guy had given him a 10 and a 5, Blaine could just _kiss_ him for it. All the stupid rich tourists with their debit cards and ATMs and $20 bills using up all of the change in their registers…oh yeah, change, right. He slipped a quarter out of the drawer and handed it to the stranger, grinning when he dropped it and two dollar bills into the tip jar.

“Thanks so much, and have a great day!” Blaine might say that to all of his customers, but he actually meant it this time. And he thought the gorgeous guy could tell that.

“You too,” he said just as sincerely before turning, grabbing a few napkins, and walking out the door to his friends. Blaine zoned out for a few second before Tina not-so-gently bumped into him as she passed, reminding him that there were plenty of other customers for him to help. Things were chaotic inside the humid store, but Blaine didn’t mind so much anymore.


End file.
